Confused or competent? How voters use the STV ballot paper

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Curtice, John and Marsh, Michael (2014) Confused or competent? How voters use the STV ballot paper. Electoral Studies, 34. pp. 146-158. ISSN 0261-3794 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2013.11.002)

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Abstract

STV is often extolled because it allows voters to express a nuanced choice, but is criticised for being too confusing. In practice the system is little used, but evidence from where it is indicates much depends on how voters choose to use it. STV was used for the first time in Scottish local elections in 2007, providing valuable new evidence on how voters respond to the system. We use survey data to examine the incidence of various indicators of apparent failure by Scottish voters to exploit STV, and compare both the levels and patterns of incidence with equivalent data for Ireland. We find little sign of confusion in either country, but significant evidence of ballot order effects in Scotland.

ORCID iDs

Curtice, John ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4029-8916 and Marsh, Michael;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:48937
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    June 2014
    Published
    19 November 2013
    Published Online
    Notes:NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Electoral Studies. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Electoral Studies, VOL 34, (June 2014) DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2013.11.002
    Subjects:Political Science
    Department:University of Strathclyde > University of Strathclyde
    Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Government and Public Policy > Politics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:11 Jul 2014 12:07
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 10:44
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/48937
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